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Wier

Wier is a small village situated in the north west of Friesland. The number of inhabitants varies around 200 people and it has about 80 houses. New building development in Wier has started since March 2004and between now and 5 years seven new houses will be built in Wier, which is an enormous increase for such a small village.

Wier, a peaceful village, is included in a cultural and historical bicylcle tour in the municipality of Menaldum. At that is no surprise, you can find various interesting cultural and historical elements that are worth a visit, for instance, an ancient church surrounded by a cemetary. On the front of the church you will find an astronomical clock which was made by a person who had to hide for the German soldiers during the second world war.

There are hardly no services in Wier. It has a small giftshop at the Brinkhoeve, the campsite and tearoom. The shop sells gifts and chothes. But apart from this shop there are no other stores in Wier. The public transport facilties to, for instance, Leeuwarden are sufficient. Busses are running every hour during the day but, unfortunately, not in the evening.

There is no primary school in Wier. Pupils have to travel to Berlikum or Minnertsga (2.5 km from Wier) to attend school. In those villages, and in St. Jacobiparochie, St Annaparochie and Menaldum you can also find supermarkets and other shops for your daily needs and specalty goods.

Although there are hardly no services in Wier itself, the village has a lot to offer for leisure activities.

There is a kaatclub (a traditional Friesian sport). The club has a kaatspitch of their own. In summer nearly every weekend you will find people who play kaatsen on this pitch.

There is a organisation that organizes various social activities for the inhabitants of the village.In Winter, for example, there are activities for children in the age of 4 -12, such as, a disco, a handicraft workshop dealing with Easter or a search in the village. But there are also activities for the adults, such as, handicraft workshops and interesting lectures.

Nearly all those activities take place in the community centre, D’Ald Skoalle, which is managed by a foundation. In winter the people in Wier can also go there to play cards or billiards. Also the drama club performes their plays there annually. Besides a play every year, performed by the inhabitants from Wier, people can go to various other social evenings in the community centre. Furthermore, people can celebrate anniversaries in this community centre. You can find more information about the organisations and activities in Wier below.

Wier also houses a number of companies. As mentioned before, there is a campsite (suitable for tent, camper, or caravan) and tearoom, called, “De Brinkhoeve” . It is lovely place where you can enjoy having a cold or hot drink. Or a walk around in a beautiful garden which has, among others, more than 70 different types of roses. Please have a look at the beautiful photos from De Brinkhoeve so you can see that Wier is worth a visit!

We hope to see you soon in Wier (or as the Friesians say: Oan’t sjen yn Wier!)

The History of Wier

The earliest inhabitants of Wier were fishermen and farmers who could easily enter the Middelsea at Wiersterzijl and Balkzijl. Dikes were built from Leeuwarden via Beetgum and Berlikum to Wier around the year of 1000. The local population could earn a living predominantly because of the agriculture. They rented meadow from the church or the community. Schelte Lauta, a person among others responsible for the law, had build Lauta Stins in Wier – then still written as Weer and later on as Wyer – in the year of 1192. In 1634 Lauta Stins was replaced by a new building. During the revolution of tenants in 1748 this building was burnt down. In those days Wier had 87 inhabitants, and partly because of the potato crop the number of people in Wier doubled.

The church in Wier received a new organ built by Mr P.J Radersma from the village of Wieuwerd in 1842. The old saddle roof tower of the church was replaced by the current steeple in 1881. In those days Wier had 340 inhabitants. Unfortunately, the years of depression in the agricultural sector came, which forced a lot of inhabitants of the village to move somewhere else.

In 1874 the new primary school opened and until 1934 the children of Wier went to this primary school. In 1899 the first tram drove from Leeuwarden to Wier. This lasted until the 1st of May 1966.

In 1952 the interest group of the village of Wier, ‘De Doarprounte’, was founded. This organisation manages and looks after, for instance, the play garden, the church, and is the first one to contact whenever villagers have remarks or problems about anything related to the village in general.

Besides that, the village of Wier also has a community centre which organizes various social activities throughout the year. Annually, the first weekend of July there is ‘De Merke’, a celebration with lots of social activities which lasts a whole weekend. Finally, the villages also has a drama club and a kaats club.

One thought on “Wier”

Hi all in Weir involved in the Village Image Project.
I really enjoyed our visit to Weir. The best part was the wonderful welcome we got from the wonderful people, especially all the young people who gave us a great demonstration of a great game.
Emer.